http://www.wfsb.com/news/10298542/detail.html

HARTFORD, Conn. -- With her son deployed with the military in Afghanistan, Sheila Chunis finds peace of mind with each e-mail he sends her.

It's a cyber chat she looks forward to every day. Because of the 10-hour time difference, she's at her work computer about the same time he comes off duty and sends her a message.

But Chunis, an employee at the state Department of Social Service, has been threatened with disciplinary action if she continues to read her son's e-mails on state time because of a government policy on computer use.

"I feel like he's a member of the state militia, and in effect a state employee, so why can't I send him an e-mail?" Chunis said.

She has a home computer, but she finds it difficult to wait all day to read her son's e-mails because she is concerned about him.

The policy, which took effect in May, arose from a scandal that saw one administrator fired and five Veterans Affairs employees investigated for improper use of state computers.

It prohibits state workers from accessing private e-mail accounts on the Internet while at work. Employees, however, are allowed to open e-mail messages from their children's teachers and message back and forth with co-workers to plan social events.

Chunis said she constantly worries about her son, Andrew, a corporal in a Manchester-based Connecticut Army National Guard unit. He's been overseas since March and is not expected back until next April. But seeing that morning e-mail each day lifts her anxiety.

"It's an automatic relief and all is right with the world," Chunis said.

Chunis sought help from Gov. M. Jodi Rell, who said during a send-off for Andrew Chunis' unit that she would do everything she could to make the separation as easy as possible for families.

Rell's staff worked it out so that if Chunis got an e-mail at work, she could forward it to the state armory in Hartford and drive the few miles there during her lunch hour to read it. But she said that her workload makes it difficult for her to find enough time to make the trip.

Mother and son also send e-mails back and forth to her home computer, but the 10-hour lag time doesn't offer the same comfort.

The union representing Chunis is looking into the policy.

"We don't dispute there should be a policy in place, but it should allow workers to stay in their offices and receive messages from deployed relatives," said Matt O'Connor, a spokesman for the Connecticut State Employees Association, SEIU Local 2001.